Describe the exams and tests you received that led to a diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism.

I had chest pain for about a week and it eased up. Then it came back again a few days later, along with difficulty in breathing. I went to the emergency room. My EKG was very off (more than its usual abnormality due to prior heart attack.) My D-dimer was negative. I was admitted to the hospital and cardiac enzymes were tested every 6 hours for the next day. They gave me oxygen and nitroglycerine and I felt better but was referred to my cardiologist. The chest pain did not get better while I was on nitro prophylactically so I was scheduled for a cardiac catheterization. My cardiologist was shocked at how good my heart looked and said there was something else going on. Within two days my leg was swollen and painful and I again went to the emergency room on my cardiologist's advice where they did ultrasounds of my veins and arteries and found DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in both major veins of my leg extending into my pelvis. It wasn't until this point they realized my prior chest pain and trouble breathing was a pulmonary embolism. I was immediately put on Lovenox injections, had an ilio-femoral thrombectomy and after a few days sent home on Xarelto, indefinitely. They suspect I have antiphospholipid antibodies based on preliminary tests but have to wait until I'm off anticoagulants to confirm. My hematologist has prolonged the treatment from the planned 6 months saying knowing what caused the clots is not as important as preventing more clots.

I had a CT scan done and when I went to collect them the receptionist advised me to go straight to hospital as the radiologist had spoken to the doctor. I was admitted and stayed 1 night for pulmonary embolism.

I had chest pains after a hysterectomy, and it would not go away with pain medications, so I underwent a EKG, and CT scan, and the CT scan showed that I had a blood clot in my right lung. Now I take a blood thinner each night as a treatment to try and prevent any new one's, and dissolve the one in my right lung.

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